CPSC Publishes Draft Final Rule for eFiling and Certificates

SG 175/24

A Draft Final Rule to revise 16 CFR 1110 regarding eFiling and certificates has been submitted to the US Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) for review and consideration.

On November 22, 2024, a Draft Final Rule to revise 16 CFR 1110 regarding eFiling and certificates was submitted to the CPSC for their review and consideration. A decisional meeting for the final rule has been scheduled for December 18, 2024.

The revisions of the final rule are based on industry comments to the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPR) issued in December 2023 and the beta pilot that concluded in June 2024. The key updates include:

• Effective date extended from 120 days to 12 months after the approval and publication of the final rule. This excludes the products entered for consumption or warehousing from a foreign-trade zone (FTZ) that will have a 24-month effective date
• Confirmed the disclaimer message set is not required for the following products:
1. Imported products not within CPSC’s jurisdiction
2. Imported products within CPSC’s jurisdiction, but no rule, ban, standard or regulation requiring a certificate applies
3. Imported products being a component of a consumer product that is not packaged, sold or held for sale to, or for use by, consumers, but rather the part will be used in further assembly or manufacturing in the United States
4. Imported products subject to an enforcement discretion and no certificate required

Although the CPSC does not mandatorily require a disclaimer message set for the imported products listed above, importers are encouraged to file one where appropriate

• Amended the definition of ‘finished product’ and clarified the three requirements that define a ‘finished product’:
1. Product is imported for consumption, warehousing or distributed in commerce
2. Product is subject to a consumer product safety rule under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), or similar rule, ban, standard or regulation under any other law enforced by the Commission
3. Product is packaged, sold or held for sale to, or use by, consumers

• Clarified the definition of ‘importer’, which refers to the Importer of Record (IOR) who is eligible to make entry for imported finished products under the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1484(a)(2)(B)), who may be an owner, purchaser or authorized customs broker. For purposes of this rule, the CPSC will not typically consider a consumer purchasing or receiving products for personal use or enjoyment to be the importer responsible for certification
• Clarification over necessity for ‘duplicative testing’ – one test to the same requirement in overlapping regulations is sufficient
• Clarification on ‘manual certification’ in the product registry. The CPSC will automate attestations for bulk certificates uploaded into the product registry via API or the CSV template and will not require individual attestation of certificates. Bulk attestation options will only apply to users with certification permissions

As the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company and a CPSC-approved testing laboratory, we provide a variety of solutions to help our global clients fulfill their mandatory eFiling requirements:

• Manual upload of each product’s certificate data
• CSV batch upload of multiple product certificates
• API to automatically integrate with product registry

We are ready to help both domestic and international businesses fulfill their mandatory eFiling requirements. With an unrivaled global network of experts, we are here to support you in making a seamless transition that helps you stay compliant. Get in touch today and stay up to date with the US eFiling requirements for consumer goods.